ME Legacy: You Will Never Be Alone
by EveningStorm
Summary: Mass Effect: Legacy. Shortly after the ending of the destroy ending of Mass Effect 3, Commander Shepard's squad returns to Earth to find a gruesome discovery, what's more, the things held most dear are found more gruesome than any of them could have imagined. Who can escape the horror of the red, trodden path in which Shepard has created?


_To my beloved readers:_

_I am pleased to announce that through much consideration, I have decided that _You Will Never Be Alone_ will become a full-blown fanfiction about the Shepard x Vakarian romance as well as a twist to continue the story of _Mass Effect_ in such a way as to show what would happen with the Destroy or Red ending. For those new to the story, this first chapter is but a taste of what is to come, and I urge you to please follow it if you're interested and to those following the story already, you're in for a great ride. And for those who aren't that interested about reading about the Shepard x Vakarian ship and/or the Destroy ending, don't worry. I am planning on writing a collaboration of stories, one for each of the four endings (yes, refusal ending included) with different story lines and pairings. Each story will be unique and exciting, as well as bring forth plot holes in the endings that will soon be filled with unique continuations to the story. And to those waiting for me to write Breathe, don't worry, because I'm working on that too. So please enjoy and follow. And I welcome you to my new world of_ Mass Effect: Legacy.

Awake.

Her eyes flickered open, delicate but determined.

So much silence, the stale air, echoing in her ears.

The dull light in the invasive dark, captivating, foreign, yet strangely welcoming.

She took a single deep breath. Sweet air entered her lungs for the first time in what felt like forever. It smelled like Earth, not Earth as it was now. The old Earth. The kind of Earth that would make you forget all the problems in the galaxy, because the only thing that existed is this Earth.

It smelled like a sweet oak forest, the trace of a thorough rain just a few days late with the unmistakable tang of alcohol, just before the precipitation. It soothed her, made her take another breath. It was so sweet, she didn't want to move – it would ruin the moment.

Nevertheless, her ever-active body started to animate, more out of habit than motivation. The air activated her chest and arms, making them start to move and stretch, like she had just woken up from a long sleep. There was barely any space to move, or at least it felt like it. She was comfortably enclosed; it was a strange comfort, especially after everything she had just gone through.

Her ears finally opened to reception, but it was so silent, so still…extremely so when compared to what she had just experienced. She felt her mind wandering to think about all of the explosions, but she was in such a relaxed state, she couldn't drag herself to really think about it. What she saw made her shiver on the inside…the smirk of a small child – The Catalyst – and then the face disappeared.

The relaxation reminded her of someone, not the strange child that gave her the opportunity to change the solution to chaos, but the only one who could make her feel like relaxation even existed. That there was truly calm right before the storm.

That was when she started hearing the soft murmuring around her.

…

"Hey, I've got something over here."

He looked up from the rubble that he was sorting through, the small flame that ate contently at its tiny fuel supply next to his hands lit up a familiar face, blue visor glowing in the dim light. He looked over at the black-haired LC, dropping the misplaced wall from his three-talon hands, slipping out from under the steel wall that his cowl had been propping up. He gently lowered it back down, letting his gaze fall upon his colleague. He let out a hollow cough as he limped his way over to him, his face aching on the right side as he opened his mouth to talk, like it was tearing itself open from the inside-out.

"What is it, Williams…?"

His deep blue eyes connected with the familiar suit beneath the heavy debris. He cut himself off as soon as he recognized it. His inners twisted and he fell forward. "Help me get this off," he ordered as he frantically pulled off a few shards that littered the armor. He could feel her body beneath it, so still, so cold. Not a good sign. He moved faster.

He stood back up and took a steady grasp of the thick metal wall that was covering her face. He started to pull but dropped it suddenly as his abdomen converged and he went into a violent coughing fit. Ashley Williams touched his arm, and he heard her take a breath to ask him the stereotypical question of concern, but he pushed her off and went back to working to pull the debris off of the other woman.

This was too important; this wasn't just another dead soldier. This was _her_. He coughed again, but kept pulling. His mind kept racing; the debris wouldn't budge but he wouldn't give in, he pulled harder.

She promised him. She _promised_ him. She needed to live. S_he promised him_. Come back alive, that's what he had told her. He had _ordered_ her to. She was too good of a soldier to disobey an order. Especially one coming from him.

Ashley finally joined him in pulling off the metal palette. With their combined strength, it finally started to move. He huffed as he heard it slowly breaking, like old drywall – it only made him more determined, anger flashing in his piercing blue eyes, almost like this piece was what caused this fate upon her. This wall was the bullet that had clearly pierced her armor, this piece was the galaxies biggest enemy and threatened to take away all that was precious.

He needed revenge, and this palette needed to break, whatever it took. He bared his teeth and grunted, pulling it as hard as he could and thrusting it away as soon as it got lose, causing an collision of violent sounds as debris crashed onto the ground.

His balance was thrown off and he collapsed, coughing hysterically, blue liquid spattering onto the ground in front of his mouth. His thorned teeth oozed with blood, his mandibles so pained that he moaned out in discomfort. His scars burned like someone was holding his face into a fire. A burning so deep and so painful, it tore at his breathing and made the tissues of his facial structure crawl and ache. He knew something was wrong, he had seen it throughout their investigation after the final push. The dead weren't dead by Reapers, but by something more. Something internal. Something… Horrible.

Ashley touched him again, but he shook her off and looked up. No one was going to comfort him like _she_ could…he had to see her. He _needed_ to see her. Even if it caused his last breath.

There was her face. Her beautiful human face, seeing it made his heartbeat slow and time simply stop. Her eyes were closed, she was completely covered with blood – her cheek, her lips, everything torn and beaten. Her face was almost unrecognizable, completely crusted with dried blood and burnt skin. But he could see clearly enough, it was her. It was impossible to mistake her. She was so perfect in his eyes… She looked so peaceful, and it pained him, his mind twisting. His bowels convulsed and entwined themselves with his throat.

"Shepard!" he yelled suddenly, voice rasping. "_Shepard!_" He crawled to her desperately, pressing the side of his head to her chest, trying to listen for a heartbeat, Ashley was pulling the debris from her legs, murmuring, "Oh my God… Shepard…" He heard her whisper to herself, and at the moment he didn't even realize how unlike her it was to say that, considering her religious beliefs.

"Shepard!" he cried out again, his voice rough and ragged; he touched her face, holding it in his hands. "Shepard!" He yanked his visor from his head and threw it to the ground, ignoring the rough pain that ensued. He pulled her up to hold her against his armor tightly, her head lying limply against his face. He felt her cold skin against his mandible, pressed his nose into her cheek, mouth by her ear. She was so cold…

"Shepard… Don't do this to me…" He croaked, his breath quivering. As soon as her legs were free, he pulled her onto his lap. One arm was wrapped around her waist, holding up her back to press her against him, the other on the back of her head.

"No…Shepard…" he whispered into her ear, only barely audible. "Don't leave me alone here. You promised…"

…

The barstool was surprisingly comfortable; the dim light that came from behind the counter was a warm, welcoming invitation. Around it was endless darkness, neither frightening nor ominous. Around her, she felt the presence of people, familiar, yet faceless. Wisps of reality cut through with a lost existence. She worried not where she was, nor why she was there; but for the life of her she could not understand what this whispering in her ear was.

"Shepard."

She turned, no one was there, so she turned back to the bar.

"Shepard."

She turned again, always to the left, but she didn't feel frustrated from it. Something about the voice, it was worried, it was kind, it was wonderful. A cascade of silver lining along a gruff, mysterious hush. She didn't understand it, but merely accepted it. It kept her calmer than she thought it would.

The bartender came out from behind the stand – in which resembled the one in the lower parts of After Life – but it was faceless, neither Batarian nor Salarian, like those on Omega. It did not have the form of a Krogan, Elcor, Human, Turian, Quarian, Prothean, Asari, Reaper, Leviathan, or any of the others… It was nothing. Neither male nor female. It was no species; it was formless, yet it was everything. It was every species, and every gender.

Yet she didn't feel threatened by it. It did not feel unnatural. Once again, she accepted it without question or worry. She ordered a drink and it went away in a smooth huff of movement. Something on the floor caught her attention, and she looked down to watch the scene unfold, the whispering starting again.

…

"Shepard… Shepard, don't leave me alone…" he whispered again. "Not like this…"

"Garrus…"

The whisper caught him off guard, and he pulled her head away from his and watched it carefully and suspiciously; as if her lifeless body had somehow uttered the broken syllables. Only for him.

"Garrus!" Liara's voice cut through the world in which he hid, and he looked up at the wide-eyed Asari, "By the Goddess…" Her hand went to her mouth as she gasped, falling to her knees a few yards from where Garrus sat, Shepard still held tightly in his arms. Mud immediately started to eat at her white outfit.

"Shepard…" Liara whimpered, tears gathering in her eyes and she started to crawl towards the couple. Garrus' instincts caught up with him and he pulled her closer to him and bared his teeth at Liara, letting out a deep, protective growl. His eyes flared with the need to protect his beloved. Dead or alive, that was the deal.

Liara acknowledged the predatory act by withdrawing a little, the shimmer of a thick, teary layer encased her blue cheeks. Garrus knew how much Shepard had meant to Liara, and knew that the Asari had taken great inspiration from her. But she meant nothing to Liara when Garrus came into the picture. Shepard was his life. He had worked by her side for years. He had watched her back and picked her up when the whole world seemed to collapse. He had done everything he could for her. All he had asked for in return was her acceptance of who he was. And he had received that and much, much more.

He felt the memories collide within his head, leaving him breathless and his heart pounding furiously. They had been there for each other to finish off Saren, she had been there to rescue him from Omega, to avenge his team; and in turn, he had been there for every ground mission, had stood by her side as they defeated the Collectors, and she had reached for him and risked her own life to save him as he began to fall to the depths of the base. They had reunited on Menae and built on each others' strengths to defeat the Reapers. They had created a relationship out of respect, but it formed into a feeling that Garrus had never had for anyone before. A feeling that still bewildered him to this day, to this moment. A feeling so powerful that even the Reapers couldn't destroy it. He held his eyes shut and squeezed Shepard's limp body tighter, his face buried into her cheek.

"_Here, take him."_

"_Shepard…"_

"_You've got to get out of here."_

"_And you've got to be kidding me!"_

"_Don't argue, Garrus."_

"_We're in this 'till the end."_

"_No matter what happens here… I love you. I always will."_

"_Shepard, I…love you too."_

It felt like a steel rod was suddenly plunged through Garrus' armor and straight through his already weakened heart. He couldn't help himself from moaning in pain, and he glanced back up at Liara. She looked pitifully horrid, her face distorted and wet, hands covering her eyes as she just let it out. Ashley knelt beside her, her face weary as she comforted her crewmate; her forehead pressed into the side of Liara's head. Her own grief sheered through those once-determined eyes.

He wished that he could cry, just for a moment. Just for once in his life, he wanted to crumble from his façade as the tough Turian who never gave a damn, into a scrabbling mess of emotion-driven tears. The only thing holding him back was the fact that Turians didn't evolve to have any damned tear ducts.

He whined and buried his face into Shepard's neck. He could not feel the warm pulsating that used to attract him to her warm, fragile being. Darkness danced around in his mind and he moaned, begging it to leave him alone and let him be. But it wouldn't, he knew it wouldn't. It was too… Empty.

"_Forgive the insubordination, but your boyfriend has an order for you. Come back alive. It would be an awfully empty galaxy without you."_

"_Goodbye Garrus…and if I'm up in that bar and you're not, I'll be looking down. You will never be alone."_

"…_Never…"_

"…Never…" He whispered into her ear, another rod jabbing at his wounded heart, "Never!" He growled, feeling his body tense, he held back the coughing that was sure to arise.

"Garrus…" the whisper came again, and he pressed himself closer to her, beseeching it to come again. To entrance his mind in the forsaken world of his lover. Her voice was so warm, but her skin was so cold.

"Garrus…" A shock went through his body and he looked up slowly with his dark, weary eyes. Ashley loomed over him, and he pulled Shepard's body closer to himself protectively again. "Garrus, we should bring her to the shuttle…" she huffed, her voice shaking. It made Garrus feel weak, he was the one who always stood up to things. He was the one who kept a level head when everyone else was ridden with emotions. Even Wrex had said that he reminded him of a Krogan from his tough mind. He and Shepard. They were the two that never turned down a challenge. They were the ones that never bent their head to a disaster. The things they had seen, the experiences they had gone through. Together. As a single unit.

"_The vids mentioned it might go something like that. I had hoped it would, I mean, I didn't know if…"_

"_I can't promise how things will work out—not with this war—I missed you, Garrus. I thought about you a lot."_

"_Glad to know my romantic…uh, ahem…skills made an impression, because it's going to take more than Reapers to come between this cross-species liaison."_

Garrus took a deep breath, his eyes finally focusing on the dark-haired Spectre, "I…" His voice cracked, and he cleared his thick throat, his mind still swimming with darkness. His face burning as he began to speak again, "I suppose your right…" His voice shook, but it was good enough. He pressed Shepard's forehead against his, breathing in her cold, bloody scent. It didn't matter to him now if he got an infection from her blood mixing into his bloodstream, it didn't matter to him now.

Ashley crouched beside him and placed her hand on the back of his cowl, "I'm sorry, Garrus. I know she meant a lot to you…" A little ways off, Garrus could still hear the whimpering of Liara.

"No…" Garrus whispered, cradling Shepard in his arms, "She didn't mean a lot to me." He looked up into William's dark brown eyes, his eyes blazing with the protective nature of his being. The Reapers couldn't take her away from him, no one would.

"She meant everything to me."

…

The words surrounded her in a blanket of cherished dreams, she smothered her wet eyes with the back of her hand. The beauty of Garrus' words broke down her rock-hard shields; the barrier in which was put in place by years of hardship and death. From the moment that her parents lay dead, and her squad mates of Akuze scattered in a bloody mess, to the arguments with the Counsel and the war with Saren, Sovereign, the Geth, the Collectors, and the ever-looming battle with the Reapers on Earth. Every fight she had ever been in, her shields grew thicker, her reflexes became faster, her aim became impeccably accurate.

But this.

Tears squeezed past her hands and there was nothing she could do to stop it. It was the first time that she had cried since she was a small child. Every moral she stood on to keep her head high, every pain that she denied having, the bullet wounds she shook off. They all collapsed upon themselves.

"You meant everything to me, Garrus." She whispered to herself, her hands covering her wet face. She felt a presence behind her, and she looked up to see the bartender place down her drink in front of her, courteously followed by a soft, black napkin. _Matches with everything else here, I guess_. She took it and thanked the bartender with a shriveled murmur as she awkwardly tried to grasp it without showing that she was crying.

She hated crying, it showed so many weaknesses. She usually couldn't afford to show weakness, it made for a bad leader. But Garrus…

He had somehow found a way to veer past the pin-needles that guarded her heart, and stab it with his words. Yet he didn't hate her, he didn't say something horrible, didn't attack her in anyway. He said what his big blue heart wanted to say. It was that, which broke Shepard the most. He was so amazing, in his own lovingly, awkward way. He was a Turian copy of herself, and to see how much she had affected him and how much it hurt him to see her so beaten like that…

She had never meant to cause him pain, and yet she had. It hurt so badly, it burned her all over; conflicting with the peaceful environment in which she was in. She wiped the tears from her face, taking long breaths as her throat twisted painfully, "Garrus…" she whispered to herself, her breathing uncontrollably feeble.

She never wanted the world to mourn her, nor to praise her. She simply wanted to be. Fame never tickled her fancy, tears over her grave didn't make her feel like a hero. She was no hero. No legend. She looked at herself as merely a marine for the Alliance that did what needed to be done in order to save the most innocent ones possible. That was nothing to embroider in gold, nothing to tell people about for years after her death, nothing to lose your senses over.

She took a deep breath and looked down at the dark floor again, blinking frantically to dispel the salty water that fell from her eyes. She filled her lungs and held the air inside her, gnawing on a corner of the distorted paper between her fingers.

"I'm so sorry, Garrus…" Shepard gasped as she realized that both she and Ashley had said the same thing in unison. She nibbled the skin of her finger in awe.

"Joker may want to know what we discovered…" Ashley whispered.

Shepard could see Garrus tense, and they exchanged a fiery gaze, "What we discovered was that Joker crashed the Normandy onto Virmire. What we discovered were the ruins of Earth. What we discovered were that everything synthetic was destroyed, including EDI. What we discovered was the body of the commander he has been following for countless years. What we discovered will not help the pain he's already feeling!" Garrus snapped, his sniper eyes connecting with Ashley's eyes so harshly that Shepard was afraid he was going to kill her.

"Garrus…" Shepard whispered in concern, wishing that he could hear him and calm down. She sat at the edge of her stool, forcing herself not to blink; like she was in the middle of a really good action movie. Except this was real life, just a little screwed up as she watched from a barstool at a strange, black bar located in the middle of who the hell knew.

With luck, Garrus' eyes went gentle, and he looked past Williams, his gaze seeming far-off and full of sorrow. He then sighed and looked down at Shepard's motionless, bloody face. It was strange to see how much shit her body had gone through since she left it. It was just weird to see it at all as she sat right here, with the same face. She just hoped it was less blood-covered and burnt.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Ashley, it's just that—" Garrus began.

"—It's… It's alright. I understand how hard it must be…"

Garrus sighed again, his breath was still erratic and troubled, but he held back something. Gently, he handled Shepard's body to hold her up by her knees and neck as he got to his feet. It was so strange to see her body so limp like that, all essence drained from her limps. He then gathered himself with a deep breath and shakily stood. His eyes never left her face, Shepard could only dream of what he was thinking. It hurt her so much…

"Go help Liara, Ashley. She looks like she may need a little help."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Ashley nodded and went to Liara, still kneeling in the muddy rubble. With that, Garrus closed his eyes and lifted Shepard's face up to his, burying his face beneath her jaw. He took in the deepest breath that Shepard had ever seen him take. It reminded Shepard of all their time together, and memories started nuzzling their way back into the nest of her head.

"_Bad dream?"_

"_You ever get them?"_

"_Hmm… I intend to expect the worse anyway so dreaming about it is just a waste of good sleep… _

"_What about now?"_

"_I'm expecting a tough fight… What's bothering you?"_

"_Can we ever be ready for a battle like this? Everything we've ever known… It's all hanging by a thread, Garrus…"_

"_Yeah, but the truth is, when hasn't? Every fight we've ever seen could have been our last, every bullet we've ever dodged could have been the_ one_."_

"_Hm, there have been a lot of bullets."_

"_Yeah, and this time around they're just a little bigger."_

"_Heh… I don't know what I'd do without you."_

Shepard bit back a whimper as she watched Garrus slowly lower her head back down and opened his eyes as he looked ahead with every step he took. Time seemed to slow as his footsteps started leading him away from that despicable place, his eyes dark with thought, memories dancing in them like whispers of liquid hope; while the fire of determination twisted from the darkened depths. Behind him, Ashley was helping Liara to her feet, and Liara hid her distraught face into Ashley's shoulder. Both supporting each other as they started towards a new world.

"_So, are you ready to be a one-Turian kind of woman?"_

"_The only thing that made leaving Earth bearable was knowing you were out there somewhere."_

"_I felt the same way, the worst part about the galaxy going to hell would have been never getting to see you again."_

"_Well here I am, exactly where I want to be. I love you, Garrus Vakarian."_

"_Wow, the vids Joker gave me… Well… They never got this far… There was the part about sleeping together, but this… I don't know exactly what to do…"_

"_Hehe, you grab the girl and kiss her like you mean it."_

"_That I can do."_

"_And rather well."_

Shepard's memories were interrupted by an abrupt coughing. She looked down again, connecting with Garrus' eyes, beyond the floor. His eyes flashed with worry, not the worry that was in his eyes before. Shepard sat forward, she had never seen this kind of worry in his eyes before. It was starting to transfer to her. He coughed again, his teeth covered in blue while it drooled from his mouth. His hands quivered, as he grunting in pain. Shepard frowned.

"Shepard…" Garrus groaned weakly, his eyes hurt and regretful.

"Garrus…" Shepard whispered to herself.

He collapsed in a pile of her body and his, immediately, Liara and Ashley were on him; screaming his name in concern. That was when the floor faded to black again, and all went comfortably silent again.

But it wasn't comfortable to Shepard anymore, it was no longer familiar and warm. It was dangerous, dark, frightening, foreign. She shivered and turned back to the bar, her fingers tapping gingerly at the shot glass in front of her.

_Bottom's up, I guess. There's nothing really to do now._ She thought to herself, lifting the glass and gulping the fiery liquid down in one take. It burned at her throat tastefully and started to warm her stomach and spread throughout her torso. The bartender appeared again, a whispered tickled her ears, "Is something bothering you, madam?" The sound strangely danced through the air as a unison between every voice in the galaxy. All but one distinct voice.

Shepard sighed, "I guess just the same old, same old… Just kind of died at the wrong time…"

"You're not going to pull that cliché, are you?" The voice behind her made her jump, that one voice, "Think about it, Shepard, everyone who has ever come through here has that same complaint: died at the wrong time, at the wrong place."

A tap on the bar next to her made her turn, she looked to see another hand with three long fingers in custom-made black shooting gloves. In the other hand that landed gently next to that was a black arm with the warm glow of an omnitool over it. Shepard dragged her sluggish eyes up the thick arms, big blue shoulder braces, and thick armor plating. Her grim face slowly turned to a broad smile as she looked the famous Turian in the face.

"Get the lady and I some shots, my dear friend." He met her eyes with a whimsical smirk, "I'm buying."


End file.
